That clatter you heard around 8:52 p.m.? That was the sound of jaws dropping across America when on tonight's "Real Housewives of New Jersey," Victoria Gotti claimed Rino Aprea told her he slept with his mother-in-law Santa Napolitano, breaking up his marriage to Teresa the first time around.

Is the (likely fleeting) fame and possible fortune associated with reality television stardom worth maligning and humiliating a grandmother? Is there any coming back from Santagate? Think about that while I take a scalding hot shower.

A little background: Rino and Teresa married young, had a son, Giovanni, and split up after 10 years. During their split, Rino apparently slept with "every stripper possible," according to Teresa. Then he and Teresa reconciled and remarried. "He always loved me and I always loved him," Teresa says earlier in the episode. "That was never an issue despite what people may say, and the rumors that fly out there."

Did she hear about this particular rumor?

It all went down thanks to Victoria Gotti, who just so happened to hear about Teresa Giudice's Fabellini appearance at a Long Island wine store, and stopped by. She asks Teresa and Amber — who is now such BFFs with Teresa that she shleps across three bridges to watch her greet fans — to come by her home for some drinks and casual slander. (Amber thinks of her crusading crime-busting hubby and tells us, "Nothing good can come out of this." Nothing good ever comes out any "RHONJ" tete-a-tete.)

Victoria reveals that she met Rino (who had already split from Teresa at the time) at his restaurant: "He seemed very enamored that I was there," she says without a trace of humility, and when she landed in the hospital a couple of weeks later, he showed up with food and a diamond Rolex. "He thought that was normal," she says. She wouldn't accept his gift, but they remained friends. Some time later, he spilled the details of his split from Teresa to Victoria and other friends over dinner. He cheated, Victoria says, and Teresa G. and Amber quickly jump to the conclusion that he cheated with Teresa's sister Nicole. "No," Victoria says. "He just looked at me and he said, 'Her mother.'"

"WHAT?" Teresa and I screech at once.

"It could have happened, of course," Teresa tells us. "Things like that do happen in real life. I mean, I've heard of that." Teresa is so generous in this way, always giving the most vile rumors the benefit of the doubt.

Victoria claims she told Rino that this is how "gossip and crazy rumors get started. He told her that he wasn't joking; that's why and Nicole got divorced.

"Nicole and Teresa, they have a lot of family issues," Amber tells us. "Now here I am being something yet again. This is twice now. I don't want to hear any of this." But you did, and now what do you do? Tell Teresa, or just let it sit out there? Hmmmm.

Meanwhile, Nicole and Santa have a chat about Bobby, whom she has been dating for a year. Santa says Bobby seems very different from Nicole's previous boyfriends: "He can really space out his need to be around you, and that's very unusual," Santa says. The not-so-subtext? He doesn't seem to like you that much. Santa wants to know whether Bobby is a "confirmed bachelor," although I don't think she means what I think that used to mean.

The twins, Rino and Bobby, and Santa and Sal get together at Ponte Vecchio for Valentine's Day, and, well, poor Bobby. First Rino tells Bobby that hopefully one day he'll be a part of the family. And then Nicole says Santa was wondering whether Bobby is a confirmed bachelor. Just in case Bobby couldn't hear her, Teresa yells it down the table. "I would truly hope that it has a future," Santa chimes in.

Finally, Bobby is able to get a word in. He says he remembers Nicole telling him that she wanted to kiss as many frogs as she could until she met her prince. On their first date, he saw a stand selling stuffed frogs, and he bought her one, telling her that her days of frog-kissing are over. "That means," Teresa interprets for Nicole, "he assumes he's your prince." Thank you, Teresa.

Elsewhere:

• Apparently Melissa and Amber's friendship is back on track, because Amber comes by to support Melissa after her aunt died suddenly from cancer. Did you know that Amber had cancer? We didn't either. Later, we also see Melissa and Teresa appearing to genuinely enjoy hanging out with one another. Teresa suggests watching "The Godfather": "There's a lot to learn from watching 'The Godfather,'" Teresa tells Melissa. "There's people getting killed (but) it's all about family and just being there. You never go against family." Hey, was that a threat? Is Melissa Fredo? Don't get in the boat, Melissa!

And for Valentine's Day, after nagging Joe to spend more time with the kids, Melissa gives him a book of sexy photos she had taken of herself. Which more than makes up for the nagging.

• Teresa G. approaches Joe in her office to talk about her upcoming schedule. Joe is wearing his "Look at me! I'm smart!" glasses. Joe seems to get a little defensive when she brings up their legal bills and tells him that every one of her appearances counts. "I know you think, you know, that I don't do anything, but I do a lot," he says. "Even things I don't do, I don't tell you about." Isn't that how they got into this mess in the first place?

"Oh my God," Teresa says. "Please get everything in writing. I mean, look, we're getting burned now because ... situations." Apparently on next week's episode, they take the plea deal, so at this point, "situations" should be translated as "we were caught perpetrating multiple frauds." And from what we understand of the government's case, not getting things in writing wasn't the problem. It was the things that were, in fact, in writing — say, Teresa's alleged fake W-2s — that were the problem.

"You got to get out there and you got to hustle," Joe tells her. "I mean, look, you're the brand. I guess I'm the brawn." Teresa looks at him uncomprehendingly. "You know what the brawn is?," Joe asks. "The brawn is the muscle behind the brand. See, I know some words."

Later, Teresa reveals to Victoria that her businesses are suffering because of her legal problems. (Imagine that! Some people don't want to do business with people who are accused of fraud.) Victoria: "I always find you never judge anybody until you've walked in their shoes." Teresa seems to think that this means she shouldn't care about what other people say because they're jealous of her success. Victoria: "Just keep going."